UMBC President Freeman Hrabowski delivered an evocative, impactful talk on Dr. Martin Luther King’s vision of equal opportunity for all people to an audience of 300 at Carnegie Mellon University on Monday, January 26, 2015.

Dr. Hrabowski’s address was introduced by CMU President Subra Suresh as part of the Simon Initiative Distinguished Lecture Series — a “forum for thought leaders focused on scientific advancement and disruptive innovation in the field of education.” Richard Scheines, dean of CMU’s Dietrich College, moderated a Q&A session following the talk.

Dr. Hrabowski reflected on how central a strong sense of self is to achievement, and how universities can cultivate and strengthen that confidence and drive in students from all backgrounds through high expectations and support. He challenged Carnegie Mellon to “become a leader in the world in producing students from underrepresented groups who will then transform the world.”

“Whether we are talking about a strength in STEM or the humanities or social sciences, the real question for the American university is: How do we reach out to students who are different?” Dr. Hrabowski said. “How do we create a culture in the spirit and dream of Dr. King that welcomes those students, embraces their differences and expects the most — both from them and from ourselves?”

UMBC and Carnegie Mellon have a strong, collaborative relationship. UMBC has been a partner of CMU’s Open Learning Initiative (OLI) for over five years, offering OLI courses in statistics, biology, psychology and computing. UMBC faculty work with CMU researchers to refine approaches to technology-enhanced learning. We are also proud to have welcomed several CMU alumni as UMBC faculty, including Manil Suri, mathematics; Michele Osherow, English; and Amy Hurst, information systems.

This morning there was an off campus traffic accident that affected a significant portion of the local power grid. BG&E notified UMBC that to safely repair the grid they would need to cut power to campus beginning at 10:45 a.m. With safety as our primary priority, UMBC cancelled classes for the day and closed campus.

BG&E has informed UMBC that the repair work is now complete. Power has been restored to campus and we do not anticipate further outages at this time. Campus events with start times of 4:00 p.m. or later will continue as scheduled. Classes, including exams, will remain cancelled for the duration of today, Friday, November 21.

The Chronicle of Higher Education‘s Sara Lipka speaks with President Freeman Hrabowski in a new video interview that focuses on how universities can help students succeed.

Dr. Hrabowski discusses the success and replication of the Meyerhoff Scholars Program, as well as similar programs across the disciplines, including the arts, humanities and social sciences. He emphasizes the importance of helping students build supportive peer communities and learn to collaborate with one another.

“We believe the work should be very rigorous, whether in literature or in biochemistry,” Dr. Hrabowski says. “And we believe that we, as professionals, as educators, should be as supportive of those students as possible.”

The University System of Maryland Office of the Chancellor has shared a message from Chancellor William E. Kirwan with the university community, announcing his plans to step down after a 50-year public higher education career.

For the third consecutive year, UMBC has been named to the Times Higher Education‘s 100 Under 50 list of the world’s best young universities.

This year, UMBC ranked #65, joining such institutions as the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, Université Paris-Sud, University of Calgary and University of Warwick.

THE‘s “100 Under 50″ highlights colleges and universities established less than 50 years ago that have promising futures. Particular attention was given to institutions with strong research, innovation and an international outlook.

Phil Baty, editor of Times Higher Education Rankings, said: “The academy’s traditional, ancient elite should be warned – many of the exciting young universities on this forward-looking list do not see their youth as a disadvantage in the global knowledge economy. While they may not have had centuries to accumulate wealth and cannot draw on generations of alumni and rich traditions of scholarship to drive their reputations, they are free from the burdens of history: free to be more agile, lean, flexible and risk-taking, giving them an advantage in a rapidly changing global marketplace; free to offer innovative teaching and focus their research on niche, high-impact areas.”

Justin Jacobs, a doctoral candidate in statistics at UMBC, has won the prestigious Presidential Early Career Award in Science and Engineering (PECASE). This is the highest honor bestowed by the U.S. government on science and engineering professionals in the early stages of their independent research careers, and recognizes Justin’s work with the intelligence community.

Justin received the award from Director of National Intelligence James Clapper on January 23, 2014, and he will be recognized by President Obama in a ceremony at the White House later this month.

At UMBC, Justin is being co-advised by Anindya Roy and John Zweck (now at UT Dallas), and plans to graduate this May. His dissertation is titled, “Density Estimation on Differential Manifolds.” He is completing his Ph.D. while employed with the National Security Agency.

President Clinton established the PECASE award program in 1996. The White House website notes, “Awardees are selected for their pursuit of innovative research at the frontiers of science and technology and their commitment to community service as demonstrated through scientific leadership, public education, or community outreach.” Learn more about PECASE and this year’s recipients in this White House Press release.

Join UMBC in celebrating the 25th anniversary of the University System of Maryland (USM). “Like” the USM Facebook page and submit an entry form by March 24th for a chance to win prizes!

Twenty–five entrants who complete and submit this form will be selected at random to receive a USM 25th anniversary prize pack. These winners will be entered into the drawing for the grand prize: a NOOK Simple Touch® GlowLight® AND four autographed books written by UMBC faculty and staff: